BASEBALL; Another Mazzilli Move From the Bronx to Queens

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

Published: December 12, 2006

Lee Mazzilli, whose playing and coaching career has bounced between the Yankees and the Mets since 1976, yesterday became the studio analyst for at least 85 games on SportsNet New York. He is the third member of the 1986 Mets to be hired by SNY, joining Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.

Mazzilli's contract as the Yankees' bench coach was not renewed after the 2006 season, enabling him to take the SNY job.

''That's part of the baseball life and how things change when teams go in different directions,'' he said about being replaced by Don Mattingly. ''You have to understand it.''

Mazzilli was the Mets' first-round draft choice in 1973 and played for the team from 1976 to 1981, after which he was traded to Texas for Darling and Walt Terrell. Mazzilli played for the Yankees in 1982 and rejoined the Mets from 1986 to 1989. He managed in the Yankees' minor league system from 1997 to 1999 and was the Yankees' first base coach from 2000 to 2003 before managing the Orioles from 2004 through 107 games of the 2005 season.

Mazzilli's hiring follows by a few weeks the YES Network's hiring of Joe Girardi, who was fired as the manager of the Florida Marlins and was subsequently named the National League's manager of the year.

''You keep yourself in the game, and that's obviously something very dear to me,'' Mazzilli said. ''But this is a challenge.''

He added: ''I grew up as a young man in this organization, and to come back in this position will definitely be different. It's very much different from the every-day life of baseball. It's an adjustment period, but I can only see good things in this.''

With Mazzilli in the SNY studio, the network can use Darling and Hernandez on games more often, in a three-man booth with Gary Cohen.

Photos: Lee Mazzilli, top, will be a studio analyst for the Mets next season. Reliever Darren Oliver, above, agreed to a deal with the Angels. (Photo by Barton Silverman/The New York Times); (Photo by Frank Franklin II/Associated Press)